


Improvising

by societallyDysfunctional



Category: Homestuck
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humanstuck, Humor, M/M, Oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-18
Updated: 2015-02-18
Packaged: 2018-03-13 15:24:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3386714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/societallyDysfunctional/pseuds/societallyDysfunctional
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Karkat Vantas, the loner, gets paired up with one of the most popular boys in school, Dave Strider, in their drama class.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Improvising

Karkat Vantas sat slumped on his desk, head buried in his arms, while his boring drama teacher droned on and on about ‘improvisational structure’ or whatever.  Karkat hadn’t wanted to take Theater class, but their high school ‘encouraged’ the students to take at least one year of Performing Arts, that is Chorus, Orchestra, or Theater.  Because Karkat couldn’t sing or play an instrument, he hadn’t gotten a choice.  He may or may not have nodded off during the teacher’s lecture, but he jerked awake to the sound of his name being called.

“Dave Strider with Karkat Vantas,” the teacher read off his sheet.

Karkat sat bolt upright.   _Why does it have to be_ him _, of all people?_  He noticed Rose Lalonde and Kanaya Maryam across the room, snickering at his twisted expression.  He shot them a glare that could peel paint.  He turned away from them to find Dave Strider staring at him with a wicked smirk plastered on his face.

“So how’s little Karkitty doing?” Strider teased, despite Karkat’s obvious dislike for this situation.

“Fuck off, Strider, let’s just get this thing over with,” Karkat snapped, ignoring Dave’s annoying nickname.  “What are we supposed to be doing, anyway?”

“Someone wasn’t  listening.”

“No shit, Sherlock.  Could you just tell me what’s going on?”

“Okay, Karkles,” Dave complied, “We got these ‘open script’ things and we have to establish the relationship between the characters and add movements and shit.  Kinda like improv, but not quite since we’ve already got the dialogue.”

“Great.  What’s the script say?”

Dave put the script on the desk, and Karkat eyed it with disdain.

A: Well.  
B: How are you?  
A: I’m not all that well really.  
B: Why? What’s the matter?  
A: The usual things. How are you?  
B: I’m fine.  
A: Mmm. It’s been a long time.  
B: Yes. I thought of you the other day.  
A: Why?  
B: It’s nice sometimes to think back isn’t it?  
A: Absolutely. How’s everything?  
B: Oh not bad. Do you know how long it’s been since we met?  
A: Uuh..  
B: Two years.  
A: Long time.

“This is stupid, it has no information,” Karkat snapped.

“That’s kind of the point, idiot, now are we going to get started or what,” Dave pointed out, all too cheerfully.

“They could be old friends or something,” Karkat suggested, “I’ll be person A.”

“Let’s run through it,” the tall boy said, “How about person B had liked person A while they knew each other, but then they were separated somehow?”

“Whatever,” Karkat grunted, trying to sound indifferent but thinking, _Where did that idea come from?_ “Let’s just try it.”

Dave normally took the spotlight in their drama class, but today his acting seemed half-hearted.  Karkat was about to ask what was wrong (not that he cared about the asshole, of course) when the teacher interrupted his train of thought.

“All right everyone, let’s watch some of your scenes.  Dave and Karkat, why don’t you perform for us.”

Karkat froze.   _What_ did he just say?  They had barely practiced!  He reluctantly shuffled to the front of the class, trying to ignore the whispers in the audience.

“Well,” Karkat said awkwardly.

“How are you?” Dave asked.

“I’m not all that well really,” Karkat replied, sitting down dejectedly on the bench.

“Why?  What’s the matter?” Dave inquired, concern in his voice.  He sat down on the bench beside Karkat and peered into his face.

“The usual things,” Karkat said, trying to look away, “How are you?”

“I’m fine,” Dave said, turning away to stare ahead blankly.

“Mmm.  It’s been a long time.” Karkat tried not to stare at Dave.

“Yes.  I thought of you the other day.”  He appeared so nonchalant about this impromptu performance.  It was frustrating.

“Why?” Karkat asked, surprised.

“It’s nice sometimes to think back, isn’t it?”  Dave turned to look at Karkat, their faces now too close for the smaller boy’s comfort.

“Absolutely,” Karkat replied, flustered, “How’s everything?”

“Oh not bad,” Dave paused for a moment, “Do you know how long it’s been since we met?”  Dave’s face was now _way_ too close to Karkat’s, and he couldn’t remember the next line.

“Uuh,” Karkat scrambled for something to say, before realizing that _was_ the next line.  His pulse raced, blood pounding in his ears.   _He didn’t do this in rehearsals!_ he thought frantically.

“Two years,” Dave said, as if lost in memories.  Karkat could feel his face turning red.

“Long time,” Karkat finally choked out.  He knew his face was now completely red, and there was no way Dave didn’t notice.  He just didn’t understand why his face had to be so goddamn _close_.

“What the hell are you doing?” Karkat hissed after he heard a few hesitant students begin to clap.

“Improvising.” Dave flashed Karkat a knowing smirk, then got up and walked away as if nothing happened.  Karkat was going to _murder_ that boy.

As the teacher lectured his students about the good and bad elements of Dave and Karkat’s scene, Karkat huffed and walked back to his seat, where he promptly sat down and scowled at his feet for the rest of class.

—

After school, Karkat found himself alone, waiting for his older brother to pick him up.  Alone except for Dave Strider of course, who was the last person besides himself to be picked up.

“Strider, you piece of _fucking shit_ what the  _hell_ was that?!” Karkat shouted, jogging up to Dave.

“What was what, Kitkat?” he replied.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about!  What the _fuck_ were you doing?!”

“Oh that,” Dave said, “We couldn’t exactly perform like we’d been practicing.  You’ve got to admit, our practice was pretty shitty.  You caught on quick enough.”

“But you didn’t have to almost _kiss_ me, that was fucking uncalled for!” Karkat felt his cheeks flaming.

Dave smirked.  “But you enjoyed it.”  Karkat felt soft lips press against his own for a dizzying instant.  Karkat’s eyes flew wide as saucers, his body momentarily tensing.  By the time he had jerked himself out of his stupor, Dave had turned around to grab his backpack.

“Is this one of your weird ironic jokes or something?” Karkat asked, staring at his toes and shuffling his feet nervously.

Dave grinned, turning back to face Karkat.  “Nope.”

Karkat contemplated Dave’s answer for a moment when he realized that Dave’s Bro was waiting for Dave to go to the car.

“I have to—” Dave was cut off by Karkat, who had grabbed his shirtfront and pulled the lanky boy down to his height.  When their lips met, Karkat reached up to tangle his fingers in Dave’s platinum blond hair, and Dave’s arms snaked around the smaller boy’s waist.  When their faces pulled apart after a few seconds, Dave smiled a genuine smile without a hint of irony.  By the time they finally disentangled themselves, both of them were grinning like the lovestruck idiots they were.

“Bye, Strider, see you tomorrow.” Karkat called after Dave, who was now walking to his Bro’s car.

“Bye, Karkat!”

Only after Dave had left did Karkat realize that was the first time he’d actually used Karkat’s real name.  Karkat smiled and shook his head, cheeks still flushed from the fact that his two-year crush actually liked him back.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So I took drama class, and we did this thing where we got an open scene like this one. Mine ended up being about a mother and daughter, but I ended up zoning out and thinking what if Dave and Karkat got an open scene?? So this happened. Oops.  
> I know they’re really out of character, but thanks for reading, hope you liked it! Comments and kudos make my day, by the way.  
> Also, this is an older piece, so the writing probably isn't that great. Sorry.
> 
> ~Rebecca


End file.
